In It's Inaugural Season, Getting To The Regional Finals Was A Real Struggle For The Two Teams Competing In The F1 In Schools Challenge, But The Rewards Where Worth It.
Team Kachow won the coveted “Fastest Car” and “Judges Award” at the F1 in School’s Regional Finals hosted by Bolton University, but it almost wasn’t possible with the Post Office unable to deliver the cars before the event. Students were invited to apply to join the F1 in Schools program at the end of year 8 and had to undergo a gruelling, but industry style, application process of obtaining references, sitting an interview and demonstrating why they should be part of the competition. 38 students were whittled down to 24 for interview with only 12 places available. Such was the strength of applicants that the program was opened to 18 positions in order to create three teams of six. Over the summer students started to think about their team name, car design and how they were going to satisfy the judging criteria.
A partnership was struck with Aston University in Birmingham to become the official car manufacturers and the students got to work growing their portfolios and experiences in marketing, fundraising, design, business economics and computer aided design. The files were sent off to the university for manufacturing and they were sent two weeks prior to competition, only for them to be lost by the post office. The cars had not arrived and the teams were about to withdraw from the competition when Reece at Bolton University informed the team that he would drive all the way up from Birmingham to drop the cars off at Bolton University the next day, competition day. Upon arrival the cars where there, ready to collect and race. They were manufactured to the highest levels and were submitted for entry without a paint job. The teams had set themselves up well and were interviewed on their roles and journey, had a presentation stall judged, and got to practice reaction times on a set of official starting paddles. This practice was most needed for team Kachow!
